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Monday, February 13, 2012

It's Monday and I'm a Reading Fool!

Or maybe just a fool. I'll let you decide.

SO, this past week I finished reading and reviewed two books. WHOA NELLY! I was only sort of wowed by Ann Patchett's much-typed-about State of Wonder. However, I was surprisingly bowled over by Nathacha Appanah's The Last Brother. And if you haven't started reading that book yet, you need to get on the stick. Do it! Do it!

Right now I'm about 70% (Goodreads influence) done with Karen Russell's weird novel, Swamplandia!. I like it, but it's not without its own issues. I'll discuss that in my review this week.

The library continues to be a source of avalanchery (yes, it's a word now). I have a digital copy of The Tiger's Wife waiting in the wings via my library's Overdrive service, and I picked up my hold copy of Teju Cole's Open City on Friday. AND--yes there's an AND--I expect the e-book of Michael Ondaatje's The Cat's Table to drop anytime. Oh, and The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst is the next one I'll receive from my physical holds list. Then will come 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, and that might spell the end of my reading mojo.

SERIOUSLY! These are all Tournament of Booksbooks. I have to say, I'm kicking some serious arse in the Tournament of Books (personal) Challenge, but I'm also kinda ready to read whatever I want with reckless abandon. Cinder is staring at me from my stacks and oddly enough, I'm already feeling the pull of Son of a Witch after my successful romp through Wicked earlier in the year.

Tournament of Books aside, I got quagmired in The Norton Anthology of American Literature this weekend. I mentioned the online classes I inherited in my previous post. One of them is Early American Lit (blah), so it looks like I'll be re-reading some Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Washington Irving in the coming weeks. I'm OK with Irving, but Paine and Franklin make me vomit in my mouth a little.

And that's it! Only one book in the mail this week, and unsolicited copy of Five Bells by Gail Jones. It doesn't really look like my kind of thing, but we'll see. I have hopefoolery. Full of new words today.

If you don't already know, It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by the ever-lovely Sheila over at BookJourney. Get thee there!